The day has arrived!! The NADA raffle discus from Discus Hans USA, plus the extra 4 I purchased are here. 
FedEx arrived at 10:49 this morning...well ahead of the 12:00pm promise. I was so excited I was shaking! After all, I have not had any discus for 9 months. I emailed Hans right away and he called me a few minutes later to visit about the fish. The box had no damage whatsoever and not a drop of water had escaped the bags. I could hardly cut through the bags, they were so thick and double bagged! Each bag was labeled with the strain and packed one fish per bag. 2 X Red Turquoise, 2 X Red Scribbled, 2 X Flachen X Snakeskin, and 2 X Blue Snakeskin. The all came out of the bags upright, not one laid flat in the bucket. After acclimating for about 45 minutes they were each hand caught and placed in the tank. They all huddled in the lower left corner for about 5 minutes then took off swimming and have not stopped since. I believe when Hans says 4 inch Discus, he measures like I was taught, measuring the body from nose to beginning of tail, not including the tail. There are a few that are well over 4 inches. Thanks for the extra size Hans! My daughter stopped by around 1:15 to see them and walked over to the tank to take a look. I expected them to cower in the corner, but they begged for food instead. I could not believe it. I had not approached the tank since I put them in to give them time to settle, normally they are pretty skittish after shipping. I guess that won't be a problem with this group. I won't feed until the morning but they will be ready to eat.
Bucket Ready/tank at 88 degrees
Anubias attached to fake tree stump/granted it looks a bit cheesy, but I want them to get used to having something in their tank. I gave the anubias a bleach dip before attaching them, to keep my quarantine tank sterile.
After all, they are going to end up in this 178 gallon planted tank when they grow up.
Hans' new boxes
nice handle holes!
a surprise Stendker poster (thanks)
Not a drop of water lost
8 in a bucket
Drip acclimation and air stone
Turbo Start and water conditioner
Shot from 20 feet away less than 1/2 hour after hand catching and placing into tank
The most active newbies have ever acted for me this quickly
I took a video with my camera from my desk (about 20 feet away) It's not very good but it shows their activity level.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xdzwa3Awdlg
They'll be better pictures coming in the next week or so. Thanks for looking!
Thanks to Hans and to NADA. Now I just have to convince my husband these are free after buying a new sponge and power filter, fake tree stump, turbo start, salt and meds for their ER kit, food, etc!
FedEx arrived at 10:49 this morning...well ahead of the 12:00pm promise. I was so excited I was shaking! After all, I have not had any discus for 9 months. I emailed Hans right away and he called me a few minutes later to visit about the fish. The box had no damage whatsoever and not a drop of water had escaped the bags. I could hardly cut through the bags, they were so thick and double bagged! Each bag was labeled with the strain and packed one fish per bag. 2 X Red Turquoise, 2 X Red Scribbled, 2 X Flachen X Snakeskin, and 2 X Blue Snakeskin. The all came out of the bags upright, not one laid flat in the bucket. After acclimating for about 45 minutes they were each hand caught and placed in the tank. They all huddled in the lower left corner for about 5 minutes then took off swimming and have not stopped since. I believe when Hans says 4 inch Discus, he measures like I was taught, measuring the body from nose to beginning of tail, not including the tail. There are a few that are well over 4 inches. Thanks for the extra size Hans! My daughter stopped by around 1:15 to see them and walked over to the tank to take a look. I expected them to cower in the corner, but they begged for food instead. I could not believe it. I had not approached the tank since I put them in to give them time to settle, normally they are pretty skittish after shipping. I guess that won't be a problem with this group. I won't feed until the morning but they will be ready to eat. Bucket Ready/tank at 88 degrees
Anubias attached to fake tree stump/granted it looks a bit cheesy, but I want them to get used to having something in their tank. I gave the anubias a bleach dip before attaching them, to keep my quarantine tank sterile.
After all, they are going to end up in this 178 gallon planted tank when they grow up.
Hans' new boxes
nice handle holes!
a surprise Stendker poster (thanks)
Not a drop of water lost
8 in a bucket
Drip acclimation and air stone
Turbo Start and water conditioner
Shot from 20 feet away less than 1/2 hour after hand catching and placing into tank
The most active newbies have ever acted for me this quickly
I took a video with my camera from my desk (about 20 feet away) It's not very good but it shows their activity level.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xdzwa3Awdlg
They'll be better pictures coming in the next week or so. Thanks for looking!
Thanks to Hans and to NADA. Now I just have to convince my husband these are free after buying a new sponge and power filter, fake tree stump, turbo start, salt and meds for their ER kit, food, etc!
